Rev. Alvin O’Neal JacksonAmerican pastor: disgraced pastor of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the flagship congregation of the 800,000 member denomination; later hired by the Park Avenue Christian Church, a struggling Upper East Side group of 40 which dates back to 1810

It's a pattern you get into. It happens bit by bit. You end up using more and more. You're using a little material maybe initially, and then using more. It's really not rational.-- Rev. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, sounding not unlike a drug addict when explaining (and some think justifying) his practice of plagiarizing entire sermons of other high-profile pastors, in, "A Pastor Who Plagiarized Finds a Congregation Willing to Forgive" (July 28, 2006)

Fob JamesFormer Governor of Alabama

Behind this judicial wall of separation there is a tyranny of lies that will fall... I say to you, my friends, let it fall!-- Fob James, at an April, 1997, rally in support of Judge Roy Moore's move to post in his courtroom a display featuring a condensed version of the Protestant rendering of the first stone tablets of the Hebrew Ten Commanements oracle, as attendees chanted, "Tear down the wall! Tear down the wall!" (referring, of course, to Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation" between state and church), quoted from AANEWS #948 (August 15, 2001)

The only way those Ten Commandments and prayer would be stripped from that Courtroom is with the force of arms.-- Fob James, to a Baptist gathering in February, 1997, following a federal court order to remove from a courtroom a display featuring a Condensed version of the Protestant rendering of the first stone tablets edition
of the Hebrew Ten Commanements oracle, quoted from the ACLU dispatch, "Alabama Governor
Fights Prayer Ruling." They were later removed by court order, quietly and with very little protest or fanfare from either side — after James himself had been removed by a decisive election.

A good butt-whipping and then a prayer is a wonderful remedy.-- Fob James, describing his solution to the juvenile crime problem (But was it given the double-blind?) to a November, 1996, meeting of ministers, Birmingham News and Post Herald (Saturday, November 9, 1996), quoted from AANEWS for February 6, 1997

Jesuit Doctrine

To take an oath is in itself a deadly sin; but the man who only swears outwardly, without inwardly intending to do so, is not bound by his oath; he does not swear, he only jests.-- from F H Perrycoste, Influence of Religion upon Truthfulness, (p. 138); quoted from Joseph Lewis The Ten Commandments (p. 558)

Woman is the gate of the devil, the road to iniquity, the sting of the scorpion, in a word, a dangerous species. -- St Jerome, from from Susan H Wixon, "Woman: Four Centuries of Progress," speech delivered at Freethinkers' International Congress in Chicago, Illinois, in October, 1893, made a Truth Seeker pamphlet in December 1893, quoted from Gaylor, Women Without Superstition, p. 285.

Susan Wixon: Filthy and Obsessed

Jerome was the dirty fellow who lived in one garment till he died, letting his body go unwashed and half-starved, despising and mortifying the same, in order to preserve his soul. At the death of this notable saint, his ragged garment, full of lively tenants, was held up as proof of his right to be known as a saint and blessed martyr. This gave him the undoubted right to thus discourse regarding women.-- Susan H Wixon, "Woman: Four Centuries of Progress" (1893)

Saint John of Damascus (675?-749)Christian Church Doctor who opposed the Iconoclastic edicts of Byzantine Emperor Leo III

Woman is the daughter of falsehood, a sentinel of hell, the enemy of peace. -- St John Damascene, from from Susan H Wixon, "Woman: Four Centuries of Progress," speech delivered at Freethinkers' International Congress in Chicago, Illinois, in October, 1893, made a Truth Seeker pamphlet in December 1893, quoted from Gaylor, Women Without Superstition, p. 286.

John Paul II (b. 1920) Polish Roman Catholic Pope

Consequently, theories of evolution which, in accordance with the philosophies
inspiring them, consider the mind as emerging from the forces of living matter,
or as a mere epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth
about man. Nor are they able to ground the dignity of the person.-- Pope John Paul II, accepting the teaching of evolution only insofar as it does not suggest that the human mind is a product of material processes (that is, as long as the human mind is not the result of evolution), in an Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (October 28, 1986), quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (2001)

Christ called as his Apostles only men. He did this in a totally free and sovereign way.-- John Paul II, The Observer (London) "Sayings of the Week" (September 25, 1988), quoted from Encarta Book of Quotations

Paul JohnsonBritish moralist

I've been having an affair, but I still believe in family values.-- Paul Johnson, to the London Observer, after writing an essay on marriage to honor his 40th wedding anniversary and then getting ratted out to the press by his highly annoyed mistress, quoted from Chuck Shepherd, News of the Weird 555, September 25, 1998

Phillip JohnsonUniversity of California at Berkeley criminal law professor; leader of the modern 'Intelligent Design' Christian creationism movement

Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools.-- Phillip Johnson, quoted in a letter from Vic Stenger (August 11, 2003)

[Evolution] doesn't mean God-guided, gradual creation. It means unguided,
purposeless change. The Darwinian theory doesn't say that God created slowly.
It says that naturalistic evolution is the creator, and so God had nothing to do
with it.-- Philip Johnson, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds (1997), p. 16, quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (2001)

Scientific naturalism is a story that reduces reality to physical particles and
impersonal laws, [and] portrays life as a meaningless competition among
organisms that exist only to survive and reproduce.-- Philip Johnson, Reason in the Balance (1995), p. 197, quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (2001)

In our universal experience unintelligent material
processes do not create life-- Philip Johnson, although "human experience is hardly 'universal,' living as we do in a tiny region of space and time," in Reason in the Balance (1995), p. 108, quoted in and citation comment from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (2001)

In our greatest universities, naturalism -- the doctrine that nature is "all there
is" -- is the virtually unquestioned assumption that underlies not only natural
science but intellectual work of all kinds.-- Philip Johnson, presenting a dichotomy that creationism and evolution are the only alternatives rather than arguing independently for creationism, in Reason in the Balance (1995), p. 7, quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (2001), citation comment derived from Robert T Pennock, Tower of Babel

From the
very fact the universe is on the whole orderly, in a manner comprehensible to our
intellect, is evidence that we and it were fashioned by a common intelligence.-- Philip Johnson, Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism (1990), p. 13, quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (draft: 2001)

Robert T Pennock: Slick Courtroom Manipulator

He knows how to draw upon his strengths and makes a classic courtroom move
of shifting the locus of argument in a way that seeks to undermine the expert
testimony of his scientist adversaries. His key argument is broadly philosophical,
but Johnson also uses his considerable rhetorical skills to try to turn the tables on
scientists by portraying them as na´vely doctrinaire and intolerant, while
portraying creationists as rational and fair-minded skeptics.-- Robert T Pennock, Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism
(1999), p. 184, quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (draft: 2001)

Kenneth Miller: Legal Brief, Not Scientific Case

When I first read Phillip Johnson's book, Darwin on Trial, I read it as a scientist
and it puzzled me. In every chapter he attacked what he considered to be a weak
spot in evolutionary theory, implying in each and every case that there might be
another explanation, a better one than evolution. This is a common strategy in a
scientific argument. As I neared the end of the book, I expected Johnson to do
what one of my scientific colleagues would do at the conclusion of a provocative
seminar -- to lift the curtain and reveal that better explanation. Like any scientist,
I expected him to present a model that would fit the data more precisely, a
model that would possess powers of explanation and prediction well beyond
the theory he had attacked. But Johnson did nothing of the kind....Gradually I realized that the case he and his associates bring against evolution is
not a scientific case at all but a legal brief. The goal of his brief is to raise
reasonable doubt. to create a climate in which the intellectual claims of evolution
seem shaky, even unreasonable. What it never does is present an
alternative -- any alternative -- to the seamless integration of theory and natural
history provided by evolution.-- Kenneth Miller, Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for a Common Ground
Between God and Evolution (1999), p. 123, quoted from Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (draft: 2001)

Vic Stenger: Seeks to Convict Science of Fraud

Unlike those theists who at least pay lip service to science and scientific method,
Johnson is out to convict science of fraud in the court of public opinion.-- Victor J Stenger, Has Science Found God? (draft: 2001)

An atheist is one who hopes the Lord will do nothing to disturb his disbelief.-- Franklin P Jones, slandering atheists as secretly believing but outwardly denying, thus contributing to the stigma against atheists by painting us as being fundamentally dishonest, quoted from Kerrie DeGood's Atheism Quotation Page

Star JonesSpokesperson for Payless Shoes

Under no circumstances would I ever vote for an atheist [for President] because they are terrible [and have] no moral code.-- Star Jones, on her television show, The View:She later refused to apologize after being called to the mat by atheist groups (March 16, 2002), pieced together from "No God, Period!" and other sources

What apology? I didn't apologize to anyone. SJ-- Star Jones, in an eMail to David Fitgerald, a member of the Steering Committee of the San Francisco Atheists who had submitted an e-mail praising Jones for an alleged apology that had been sent to journalist Allie Gottlieb of the San Jose Metro newspaper via telephone, quoted from Conrad Goeringer, AANEWS, American Atheists (May 6, 2002)

Let me be clear on one thing. My relationship with God is the most
important relationship in my life. I believe that Christ is the Son
of God and is the risen savior. I believe in the power of the Holy
Spirit. I believe that with faith in God, all things are possible.
My life is a living testimony to His goodness and everything that I
have ever accomplished has been with his help. There is no decision
that I make, or have made in my lifetime that does not include a talk
with God during a time of prayer... Having said that, I support the Constitution and I agree with the
concept of the "separation between Church and State." I believe that
the framers of the Constitution intended that America not establish a
"state" religion, but instead allow people the freedom to follow the
faith of their own choosing. I couldn't agree more. When I vote, I
make decisions on political candidates, based on how I think they will
act, vote, direct and lead during certain situations ... and I want
that person to be led by God. An atheist, as I understand the term
does not believe that there is a God. Given a choice between someone
who knows the power of a spiritual presence bigger than they, that
moves them to have values, to have morals, to have made a mistake and
to know forgiveness versus someone who has never understood the gift
of a personal relationship with God ... the choice is clear for me.
I want a president who is God Knowing ... I do not want an American
President who does not believe that God is real and present in our
lives. I support each person's right to make political decisions
based on issues that matter to them ... but quite frankly, this is
not even a close call for me. If that bothers people... then that is
truly their problem. I plan to be steadfast and unmovable in my stand
for God.-- Star Jones, refusing to apologize after being called to the mat by atheist groups (March 17, 2002), quoted from American Atheists, "No Atheist For President, Says ABC Talk Show Maven" (September 18, 2001)

Benjamin Jowett(1817–1893)British educator

If you don't find a God by five o'clock this afternoon you must leave the college.-- Benjamin Jowett, allegedly responding to a student who had announced to him that he could find no evidence for the existence of a God (attributed), quoted from Encarta Book of Quotations (1999)

Here I come, my name is Jowett
All there is to know, I know itWhat I don't know, is not knowledge
I am the Master of this College-- Splendid Shilling, an undergraduate review, noting the megalomania unique to the Fundamentalist, without which one could never see fit to drive a student from college simply for announcing the honest findings of his open-eyed observing, quoted from Jowett Variations

Hamid KarzaiPost-Taliban president of Afghanistan (where church still equals state, we fear)

Please, my dear brothers, let your wives and sisters go to the voter registration process. Later, you can control who she votes for, but please, let her go.-- Hamid Karzai, in a speech designed to persuade traditionalist men to let women register to vote, in The Toronto Star (March 8, 2004), quoted from Chuck Shepherd, News of the Weird Pro Edition (June 20, 2004)

Bill
KeithLouisiana State Senator

If I had my way, I would have the Book of Genesis taught in all our elementary schools.-- Bill Keith, address, Monroe, Louisiana, 1986, quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom

Bill
KellerFormer Christian televangelist who broadcast a show called "Live Prayer with Bill Keller"

A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Satan.-- Bill Keller, denouncing a United States presidential candidate for beinig a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons),
whom Keller regularly calls "a cult," in his online column, according to TownHall.com's August 24, 2007, story, "Televangelist
Critical of Islam Dumped." According to the story, Keller claimed, in a May 2 broadcast, that Islam was a "1,400-year-old lie from the pits of hell." He also called the Islam's prophet, Muhammad, a "murdering pedophile"and
Mohammed's book, the Quran, "a book of fables and a book of lies."

Trust not to friends and kindred, neither do thou put off the care of thy
soul's welfare til hereafter; for men will sooner forget thee than thou art aware of.-- Thomas à Kempis, discrediting "the world" in the classic cultic device to endure loyalty to the group by weaning the target away from the natural human emotions and traditional family loyalties,
in The Imitation of Christ

It is much safer to obey than to rule.-- Thomas à Kempis, encouraging the Christian act of the surrender of human autonomy, therefore of human dignity, and ultimately of human Liberty, in The Imitation of Christ

D
James KennedyFlorida political opportunist disguised as television preacher

How much more forcefully can I say it? The time has come, and it is long overdue,
when Christians and conservatives and all men and women who believe in the birthright of freedom must rise up and reclaim America for Jesus Christ.-- D
James Kennedy, caught in a very subtle lie, considering that in order to “reclaim” America for Jesus, she needs to have once been usurped from such a former status; quoted from the People For the American Way pamphlet, "Hatred and Bigotry
... [sic] it’s NOT the American Way.”

Alan KeyesUS ambassador, candidate for President, 1996, 2000, "hard-right candidate who could do the most harm to the Republican Party" (Dan Savage)

Rights come from God and only from God.-- Alan Keyes, his motto, stated at virtually every speech, debate, and meeting but no journalist is known to have ever challenged Dr. Keyes on this statement

That money was for working eight to twelve hour days ... it was not a welfare check.-- Alan Keyes, on having paid himself $100,000 per year out of campaign funds, quoted from "Real People For Real Change," The Skeleton Closet

Familiarize the people with the truth of Islam so that the young generation may not think that the men of religion in the mosques of Qum and al-Najaf believe in the separation of church from state, that they study nothing other than menstruation and childbirth and that they have nothing to do with politics. The colonialists have spread in school curricula the need to separate church from the state and have deluded people into believing that the ulema [religious experts] of Islam are not qualified to interfere in the political and social affairs. The lackeys and followers of the colonialists have reiterated these words. In the prophet's time, was the church separated from the state? Were there at the time theologians and politicians? At the time of the caliphs and the time of Ali, the amir of the faithful, was the state separated from the church? Was there an agency for the church
and another for the state? The difference between the Islamic government and the constitutional governments, both monarchic and republican, lies in the fact that the people's representatives or the king's representatives are the ones who codify and legislate, whereas the power of legislation is confined to God, may He be praised, and nobody else has the right to legislate and nobody may rule by that which has not been given power by God. This is why Islam replaces the legislative council by a planning council that works to run the affairs and work of the ministries so that they may offer their services in all spheres. Christian, Jewish and Baha'i missionary centers are spread in Tehran to deceive people and to lead them away from the teachings and principles of religion. Isn't it a duty to destroy these centers?-- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Islamic Government, (1979), quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom

Rev
Mickey KirklandPastor of the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Montogomery, Alabama

The ACLU hates Christianity, the Christ of the Bible, and we hate the ACLU.-- Rev Mickey Kirkland, adding that the ACLU lawyers are "blood-sucking parasites," in response to the suit against Judge Roy Moore over his practice
of displaying an abbridged version of the Protestant listing of the first stone tablets of the Hebrew Ten Commandments in full view of his courtroom, quoted from Conrad Goeringer, "Ten Commandments
Posting in Courtroom Challenged by
Alabama Freethought Association" (September 13, 1996)

John Knox (1513?–1572)Scottish religious reformer, founder of Presbyterianism in Scotland

None provoking the people to idolatrie oght to be exempted from the punishment of death.... The whole tribes did in verie dede execute that sharp judgement against the tribe of Benjamin for a lesse offense than for idolatrie. And the same oght to be done wheresoever Christ Jesus and his Evangill is so receaved in any realme province or citie that the magistrates and people have solemnly avowed and promised to defend the same, as under King Edward of late days was done in England. In such places, I say, it is not only lawful to punish to the death such as labour to subvert the true religion, but the magistrates and people are bound to do so onless they wil provoke the wrath of God against themselves.... And therefore, my Lordes, to return to you, seing that God hath armed your handes with the sworde of justice, seing that His law most streatly commandeth idolaters and fals prophetes
to be punished with death, and that you be placed above your subjects to reigne as fathers over their children, and further seing that not only I, but with me manie thousand famous, godlie, and learned persons, accuse your Byshoppes and the whole rabble of the Papistical clergie of idolatrie, of murther, and of blasphemie against God committed: it appertaineth to your Honours to be vigilant and carefull in so weightie a matter. The question is not of earthly substance, but of the glorie of God, and of the salvation of yourselves.-- John Knox, Appellation, from Knox's Works, Laing's edition, vol. iv. pp. 500-515, quoted from Lecky, Rationalism in Europe (rev. 1878) vol. ii. p. 50-51n. Lecky refers to Knox as "this great apostle of murder."

Irving Kristol (b 1920) American religious neoconservative

If God does not exist, and if religion is an illusion that the majority of men cannot live without ... let men believe in the lies of religion since they cannot do without them, and let then a handful of sages, who know the truth and can live with it, keep it among themselves. Men are then divided into the wise and the foolish, the philosophers and the common men, and atheism becomes a guarded, esoteric doctrine -- for if the illusions of religion were to be discredited, there is no telling with what madness men would be seized, with what uncontrollable anguish.-- Irving Kristol (attributed: source unknown), justifying faith out of convenience over discerning whether the object of faith is extant or the claims behind it truthful, all the while issuing forth yet another slander against atheists; most importantly, though, Kristol here admits religion's utter powerlessness to change people into good men and women, saying that these changes are contingent upon the religion always remaining an active part of the people's lives: religion, then, cannot, in a few moments, effect permanent and lasting change